VHS Interview:

1.What is the name of your band and how did you come up with it? What is your name and what do you do for the band?

Hey there! VHS is our band name which is short for Violent Homicidal Slasher. I don't remember exactly how the name came up but it seemed like the logical choice since our music has a horror theme to it, more specifically 80's horror when VHS was king. My name is Mike and I play guitar and supply all of the throat noises in the band.  

2.Tell us where you are based and describe the scene. How do you think where you are located influences your sound.

We are located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada and the scene is fairly strong. There definitely isn't a huge amount of death metal bands locally but there are a number of metal bands for sure. We've had a lot of support locally but I don't think where we are located has really influenced our sound at all. We had a good idea of what we wanted this band to be from day one and didn't play a bunch of local shows to see what works and doesn't work with our sound. I've always looked at VHS as a band that I wanted to transcend being a local band. We hit the internet hard and heavy and it really paid off for us in the end.

3.Who influences your sound that would surprise people?

I'm not sure if there would be anything that would surprise people. Our fans are already aware that we take influence from everything from hair metal to grindcore to punk to old school death metal. I guess one surprising thing that people might not know is that I do take a lot of influence from punk music as far as vocal patterns and song structures go. I've always wanted VHS to be super catchy and I guess this helps with that.

4.Are you endorsed by musical companies , if so who , and if not who would you like to be
endorsed by?

We have been working with Hoagie and WB Gear for awhile now which lead to us being endorsed by SIT Strings and In Tune Guitar Picks. I've been looking into a few guitar endorsements but nothing has panned out just yet. Would love to get a drumstick endorsement too as our drummer goes through sticks like an angry beaver!

5.When you started what was your ultimate goal? And how close to the goal are you now?

 

When we started I really didn't have an ultimate goal, I just wanted to get a demo released to the world and see what happened. As it stands now, we are finishing up our third album, have released a number of splits and EP's, have worked with a ton of awesome guest vocalists and have made a lot of fans worldwide. So I guess the ultimate goal is just to see how far the band can reach and have a ton of fun while doing it! 

6.In today's digital environment it takes creative strategy to keep things moving. What creative ideas do you have to keep your band relevant over time?

I'm not sure if we are taking doing anything overly creative to stay relevant. I think the main thing we try to do with the band is just keep moving forward. Always having something on the go helps to keep you out there whether it's a split release, a new shirt design, or just doing a fun lyric video or video for your page. I think a lot of bands forget to engage their audience and they kind of fall out of the eye of their supporters. 

7.We've all seen a terrible live band that is awesome on CD. Is that cool with you or do you lose respect for bands that cannot pull it off live?

I wouldn't say I lose respect for a bad live band. It still takes a lot of guts to get on stage and maybe they are just having an off night. Every person that plays music has had a night where none of the pieces come together and that is part of the magic of live music. That said if it's a touring act and they can't pull off what they play on the CD consistently then they should be rehearsing until they can, plain and simple.

8.Tell us your “core” are you Metal , Rock , Punk , Pop etc because people just have to categorize these days you know?

We are definitely a metal band at our core but we add in a ton of other influences. We tend to call ourselves a horror metal band but people can make up their own minds about what to call us. 
 

9.This is a tough question but a very real reality, Is your band actually talented or just popular? Many bands make it with a cliche or publicity stunts etc. Would you accept fame even if it was just because of being the “ in” thing or is it actually important to you that you gain favor with talent?

I'm not sure if we are talented or popular! We just play what we want to play and have a lot of fun doing it. We definitely will never be a super successful mainstream band as we are too extreme and niche for that to ever happen. I guess I would like people to consider us talented but at the end of the day I just want people to have fun listening to our music. We aren't for everyone and that is a fact we are perfectly fine with.  

10.Tell us what to expect from you live. Nothing is more boring than watching bands stare at the floor and bob their heads to music nobody but the band knows. What can your band offer in a live setting that people will remember?

We have a lot of fun when we play live. I have a Leatherface type outfit I wear, we have had tvs playing VHS tapes on stage, a lot of props and just try to have as much fun as we can. The stage banter is usually very tongue in cheek and people seem to like that. We've got a lot of songs to draw from for the live shows so we tend to stick to the more uptempo stuff and try to have as much energy as we can.

11. What releases have you put out , When will we see something new?

We actually have a ton of releases out.
Hi-FI Horror (EP)
Screaming Mad Gore (LP)
The New Batch (LP)
A Very Merry VHS Xmas (EP)
We also have splits with Ruin and Lord Rot as well as upcoming splits with Abhorrent Funeral, Oxygen Destroyer and Goremonger/Organ Trail.  We are currently finishing up our third LP which will hopefully be out near the end of summer!

12. If you have videos where can we see them?

We've done a ton of lyric videos that you can watch on our Facebook page. We also did a video for our song "From the Scrapyard to the Graveyard" which features clips from a movie called Killer Campout and is a lot of bloody fun. That's on our Facebook page as well.
www.facebook.com/vhsthunderbay

13.Everybody has Bandcamp , ReverbNation , Soundcloud , etc. Why do you think this is so important? Doesn't it seem like everyone is giving everything out for free?

Digital is very important and a sign of the times. We've sold a bunch of physical media through Bandcamp but having your releases available for streaming is very important these days. People want to check out albums before they spend money on them. I wouldn't say people are giving the stuff away for free but at the end of the day I guess it depends on how well known a band is. If it's a demo from an unknown band then being free makes sense but a full length album probably will be worth some coin.

14.Best moment of your career so far?

Lots of cool moments as the band has done a lot more than I ever anticipated. Working with a bunch of labels worldwide has been awesome. I guess the first time holding our debut album in our hands was definitely a high point. Knowing that someone believed in us enough to take  chance on a newer band and release our CD was a very cool moment.

15.Your message to the fans?

Thanks for all of the support! It's been a lot of fun keeping this killing machine moving forward and we've amassed a number of super fans that motivate me to make this band the best it can be.  Lots more to come in the future for VHS!

Bonus Question who do you bring back
Dime , Cliff , Dio , Lemmy , Randy

I'll say Randy as he is a huge influence on my guitar playing